American History

Overview | Fifty years ago this week, the president of the United States was shot and killed. Are we any closer to understanding who he was and why he died? In this lesson we offer 10 ways in which students can reflect upon the life and death of President John F. Kennedy.

Teachers may wish to pick one idea as a whole-class starting point, or let students follow their interests and report on their findings. The resources below can also be used as the starting point for research and inquiry.

Since the 1980s, historians have concentrated on leaders’ failings, as well as their successes. Go to related article »Credit Drew Angerer for The New York Times

The first — and for many the last — in-depth lesson that American students learn about the 35th president comes from high school textbooks. And on the eve of the anniversary of his assassination 50 years ago, a review of more than two dozen written since then shows that the portrayal of him has fallen sharply over the years.

In general, the picture has evolved from a charismatic young president who inspired youths around the world to a deeply flawed one whose oratory outstripped his accomplishments. Averting war in the Cuban missile crisis got less attention and respect. Legislative setbacks and a deepening commitment in Vietnam got more. The Kennedy-era glamour seemed more image than reality.

After reading the article, answer this question — What kind of portrayal does your textbook provide of J.F.K.? — and use evidence from your book to support your answer. As part of your analysis, you can compare specific passages on key issues, such as the Bay of Pigs invasion and civil rights, to the excerpts included in this Interactive feature.

2. Memories and Heartbreak
From the moment Americans heard the news of the assassination in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, they began documenting their reactions through photographs and memorials to the fallen president.

3. Lots of Theories
Who killed Kennedy, and did that person act alone? The anniversary of the president’s assassination has prompted many reviews of the evidence, including analyses of the famous Zapruder film and the man behind it; a profusion of theories on whether Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman; and speculation on which people or governments might have been involved if there was a conspiracy.

Update: Nov. 22: Watch Errol Morris’s Op-Doc, above, about Josiah “Tink” Thompson, who has been haunted by frame #313 of the Zapruder film for decades.

4. Public Speaker
What do Kennedy’s speeches reveal about his leadership in times of crisis? Several Op-Ed articles from this summer explore that question. In “Two Great Speeches,” Adam Clymer writes about two groundbreaking speeches that Kennedy delivered on June 10 and 11, 1963:

These days it is hard to imagine a single presidential speech changing history.

But two speeches, given back to back by President John F. Kennedy 50 years ago this week, are now viewed as critical turning points on the transcendent issues of the last century.

The speeches, which came on consecutive days, took political risks. They sought to shift the nation’s thinking on the “inevitability” of war with the Soviet Union and to make urgent the “moral crisis” of civil rights. Beyond their considerable impact on American minds, these two speeches had something in common that oratory now often misses. They both led quickly and directly to important changes.

You can read these Opinion articles, select one speech on which to focus and read the original transcript. Then you can write your analysis of the speech, including its content and context, and make an argument about what it says about the president.

Visitors can leave sticky notes with thoughts and memories at a Newseum exhibit on J.F.K. Go to related article »Credit Christopher Gregory/The New York Times

Kennedy’s death occupies a distinctive place in the American story, harking back to an often romanticized era.

“It’s amazing that Kennedy should have this extraordinary hold on the public’s imagination 50 years after,” said Robert Dallek, a historian, whose book “Camelot’s Court: Inside the Kennedy White House” is being released in October. “He’s the one president along with Reagan who gave people hope. It’s hope, it’s optimism, it’s the feeling that he could have made this a different world.”

It is also heartbreak and mystery, the beautiful widow and their young children, the whispered tales of secret assignations, the never-dispelled suspicion that there was more to his death than officially acknowledged.

Although three-quarters of Americans are too young to really remember his presidency, Kennedy has become a tabula rasa on which they can paint their own portraits.

Interview others your age about what they know — or think they know — about Kennedy, his life, his family, his role as president, and his death. Take notes, then compare with others in your class. What “facts” do most people you interviewed seem to agree on? What misconceptions do interviewees have? What notions about the man and his time period were revealed in these interviews that echo the ideas quoted above about why J.F.K. still fascinates? Use your interviews as a starting point to conduct your own research into what’s fact and what’s fiction.

6. Original Reporting
Another way to delve into this history is to read the original Times reporting about the assassination and related events. Below are key articles reporting on the president’s assassination, the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald and the Warren Commission report:

Select one of the three events, read what your textbook has to say about the event to get an overview and then read the relevant Times article. Next, compare how the two sources treat the event. Does your textbook have additional information that was revealed after the original reporting? Does the Times article include details that were dropped from the textbook? What other reactions do you have to the two sources?

7. How 1963 Changed Dallas
Is it fair to blame the City of Dallas – or any geographic place and its populace – for a horrific event that happens within its borders? And how can a historical event change that place forever? Read this Opinion article about the city where the Kennedy assassination took place, as well as two letters to the editor responding. Then read this article about how much Dallas has changed in 50 years, even though extremism is still alive and well in Texas and around the nation. Next, write an analysis of whether you think Dallas was an “actor” and not just a “stage” for the president’s assassination, based on Times sources, and consider how you think the city should reflect on the legacy of the president’s assassination.

8. Is It Art or Commerce?

Photo

Wearing the bloodstained pink suit that has become one of the artifacts of Nov. 22, 1963, Mrs. Kennedy arrived at Andrews Air Force Base and was escorted by her brother-in-law Robert F. Kennedy.Credit Associated Press

In some cases, museums or auction houses have shown an interest in artifacts from the Kennedy era, such as the bloodstained pink suit worn by Jacqueline Kennedy on the day of the assassination. Are such collections and memorials useful or unseemly? Consider whether you think such articles are valuable pieces of history and then write in your journal or discuss with your classmates about the ethical dimensions of publicly displaying such items.

9. Historical Social Media
Can social media help history come alive for students? The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is running a “historical tweeting” project on Twitter by sending updates from the life of the former president using the account @JFK_1963.

Read through some of these tweets and then create your own J.F.K. Twitter or Facebook account. Select 10 or more key moments from Kennedy’s presidency and create posts that feel historically accurate. Use the president’s actual words whenever possible.

10. Obituary
Immediately after the president’s assassination, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist James Reston published “Why America Weeps” (PDF) in remembrance of John F. Kennedy. He wrote:

America wept tonight, not alone for its dead young president, but for itself. The grief was general, for somehow the worst in the nation had prevailed over the best….

The irony of the President’s death is that his short administration was devoted almost entirely to various attempts to curb this very streak of violence in the American character.

When the historians get around to assessing his three years in office, it is very likely that they will be impressed with just this: his efforts to restrain those who wanted to be more violent in the cold war overseas and those who wanted to be more violent in the racial war at home.

Read Mr. Reston’s article, and then write your own obituary for President Kennedy. Use the Times articles included above and the resources listed below to conduct your research.

Yeah….there’s lots of theories on the assassination. But the lone gunman theory has been discredited by the pundits time and time again.

As a matter of undisputed fact, audio recordings made at the time President Kennedy was shot identified 3 shots fired within a 5 second interval – the last 2 shots being only 1 second apart. But, according to firearms experts, the bolt action rifle that Oswald reportedly used could NOT have been cocked, re-aimed and fired within that 1 second interval.

So, obviously, there WAS a second gunman – an inconvenient fact that the federal government has been disputing for the past 50 years. So aren’t we finally entitled to the truth?

As a college student at the time, I remember the heart break that we all felt on the news of the assassination.

But isn’t it about time that some of the questions surrounding the assassination be cleared up? Like, in that tape recordings identified 3 shots purportedly fired at the president how could Oswald have gotten off his third shot only 1 second after firing his second shot – a feat not possible using the bolt action rifle found at the scene?

My father’s economic views and personal challenges were formed as a WWII disabled veteran. He was awarded the Purple Heart. I guess that’s why he sent JFK his poems during1958 when he was experimenting as par of the Point Pleasant Creative Writing group. JFK sent a personalized, signed letter of appreciation. Thus began an idea around my house that my father might have influenced President Kennedy’s quote, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” My father felt the last two lines of, “Inertia,” below may haves spurred on some aspect of that message. When I found my father’s archived letters from JFK, I wrote to Ted Sorenson, Kennedy’s long time speechwriter, to see if he remembered the poems. He did not answer me about this. Today there are varied versions on where these lines evolved from and before Sorenson’s death he admitted that he didn’t know how the line evolved. This report is in honor of my father’s service and the collective vision that powers our country from the individual to the top mentors of our great land.

Inertia

The United States, our country great,
Has no reason to be innate.
Our decisions and strength is always there,
Master its problems and be fair.
We never had to hitch a ride,
Or mimic others in their stride,
We always managed to stand alone,
Nor forced or coerced by others, to condone,
A wishy, washy mastery of our throne.
We should not be interested in Russia’s deals,
A good size nation who cheats and steals,
And no matter how they blow and holler,
Protect that American dollar…
Just close our ears to such babble,
It’s only fit for their rabble.
Let’s not permit them to disturb our might –
Prepare our industries and strength with fight.
Build and build with cunning and care,
And keep our defenses always aware.
Do not broadcast or repeat their screams,
Let them bust right through their seams.
Our Government lawmakers and study they’re burst,
United Nations could also quench their thirst.
When proposals are clear and through channels sent,
Then is the time to give them vent.
Hitler type oratory is always confusing,
Has reached a point when it’s not amusing.
` Leadership is needed and we have it right here,
An abundance of power to master all fear,
Let’s look around home and straighten our roost,
To many Hitler’s have planted their boots,
Unions and such that don’t give but take
The power that lawmakers possessed and should make.
People back home should think with foresight,
And pick leaders for their honor and might.
You get “nothing for nothing” has always been said,
Let us all get that into our heads.
For the more you give your country great,
Its fruits for you, it will retaliate.

I just took a quick look at ‘Teaching about JFK’, and I think it will be a fascinating journey, using the NYTimes.

But the point of view I pick up in the allusions to textbooks here, and writings elsewhere is more that of debunking the meaning of his presidency than it is explorative of its power. There are many reasons why this presidency had and has such a hold on the American people, and they’re not all based on “romanticism.”

Investigate the recent history before JFK came into office; what turning points in American culture, interests, attitudes and values did the Kennedy victory and short presidency represent and mirror? Why did college students say, ‘Finally, one of ours is now president.’ “Egghead” was a derogatory term during the Stevenson-Ike campaign, and a few years later Kennedy’s brain trust was admired as a group of policy-makers.

How did the Peace Corps, putting a man on the moon and Jackie Kennedy’s thorough restoration of the historicity of the people’s White House reflect and guide these changes?

Watch one of JFK’s press conferences, and compare it to those presidents who succeeded him. What qualities in him were brought out and developed by the high office he held? Compare his press conferences to Harry Truman’s, and what did they have/not have in common?

Why might the women’s rights movement have followed on the heels of the Kennedy years? What effect did Bobby Kennedy’s aborted campaign for president have on the civil rights movement?

Kennedy had the Treasury issue $5 Billion in TREASURY NOTES, not Federal Reserve Notes. Thus creating money supply without interest cost. Immediately after his death they were withdrawn from circulation.

After all these years, any conspiracy would surely have been discovered in this pivotal event. We have to assume that Oswald, a dedicated Leftist who hated the rich for their success, acted alone.

We have since that time learned that the Soviets funded some of those witing about conspiracies because the Russians realized the truth would make Americans angry at them. With or without such assistance, American liberals kept questioning the Warren Commission because it made them look bad for sharing Oswald’s convictions about poltics and capitalism.

I o want to thank the Times for assembling this information in one handy place. There are some things that Times still does the best!

As an 8-year-old, I was blissfully ignorant of the shadows of society and was happy to bask in the sunny Kodacolor optimism of John Kennedy’s New Frontier.
But after that long weekend in November 1963 the fragility of life became crystal clear…if President Kennedy, brimming with vigor, erupting with energy, had been silenced and stilled….no one was safe. The first cracks in my mid century American Dream began to appear. //wp.me/p2qifI-1QS

I’m finally emboldened to reach into a memory etched into an inner recess! President Kennedy meant much and was warmly regarded the world over, including in India where I grew up. In 1962, India was losing a war badly when the President ordered immediate military assistance. In our family, as in many others, he was admired, for his graciousness and humor in overcoming the most vicious of personal and public tests! All this, while framing the deepest empathy for the most extreme by products of the Human Condition with the most touching turns of phrase(s)! His was the Literary touch that led to the ‘Profiles In Courage’. I remember exactly where I was sitting when the news from Dallas arrived while I remember little else from that period – which attests to its impact! It was an early Sunday morning in India, I was10 and although I did not understand the verb in ‘Kennedy Assassinated’ the main headline on the front page of the Times of India, I knew it could not be anything good and my sleeping parents would want to know. So I made the announcement. The alacrity and intensity of their reaction told me why it was shared through the world and the ages! It’s why I joined them in reading Professor Arthur Schlesinger’s 1000 days and Robert Kennedy – still on my book shelf. We hear much about the President, particularly from those who speak from the safety of academic distance. There are many responses, but the one that I like, emerges from his service in the Pacific Theater. After a Destroyer overran PT109 the young Commander held his crew together, on the island, through excruciating backaches – the kind that dogged him throughout his short life! How many of these critics could have emerged similarly from that crucible? Not many!

While there are many facts which suggest that Oswald was part of a conspiracy, my conclusion after 50 years of intense reading of everything I could find on this subject has led me to the conclusion that Oswald acted alone. Why? Because of what Oswald did AFTER the shooting. He left the Book Depository on foot and walked home. No car waiting for him. From home he took a taxi downtown with no apparent destination. He shot Police Officer J.D. Tippet for no reason other than that the cop wanted to talk to him. He ran into the Texas Theatre only because it was nearby. He struggled with the arresting officers and tried to shoot them too. All of this is indicative of a man acting on impulse. He had no plan whatsoever.